Development Dimensions International, Inc. (DDI)
conducted a survey of more than 321 HR professionals
for the 2004 HR Forum and readers of Human Resource
Executive Magazine to identify basic trends that are
having an impact on HR today and to see how HR is
responding to them.

Some interesting extracts from the study:

Respondent profile:

43% respondents represent directors or VP’s of HR
64% were from multinational organizations
59% worked in companies with more than
USD100 million in revenue

Keppel Corporation is among the first companies in Singapore to create a policy to protect whistle blowers (Search for ?Making every Keppelite accountable’)

While such policies are supposed to represent enlightened management, I can?t help but feel that organizations should be focusing on creating a culture that thrives on trust, integrity and openness.
The need ?to protect whistle blowers? would become redundant if only leaders spent more time to

Practise and demonstrate values of trust and integrity

Create space for dialogue and interaction

Create an environment for respect and understanding

When Warren Buffet stepped in to bail out Saloman Brothers in the year 1990, these are the words he used to address Saloman?s managers on the standards he would use:
?Anything not only on the line, but near the line, will be called out.?

His test of integrity was very simple:

He asked employees to apply the ‘newspaper test’ to their every decision: Would they be prepared to read whatever they were about to do in a local paper, “there to be read” by “spouse, children, and friends”?

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A couple of hospitals in the US now allow their nurses to bid for shift work in an attempt to address nursing shortages.

The hospitals use a software product called e-shift that allows nurses to bid for shifts. The hospital posts the shift openings and the maximum it is willing to pay and a pre-condition that the nurses must be willing to work at least four shifts a month.

“User friendly” was also the description used by Arsenault, the Nashoba nurse, who works in the medical-surgical unit. “I usually make a bid once a week, which is very easy to do,” she said, noting that the top hourly rate is $37.50. And more often than not, she said, the top rate is obtainable.

And that’s also been the experience of Gill, an emergency room nurse. “I always try to go for the top ER rate of $42.50 an hour, and so far, I’ve had good luck getting it,” she said.

An ER nurse who wants “to lock in” her rate at $37 an hour automatically gets work when a slot opens up, she said.

“I really like this system because I have a very busy lifestyle and it gives me flexibility,” said Arsenault, 26

Polley, 43, said he often seeks work on his off-days because “of a son who’s starting college.”
It addresses the shortage problem and I guess will work only in ?shortage? scenarios and in industries facing acute shortage.

“If you don’t like change, you’ll like irrelevance even
less.” General Shinseki

“Distinct or Extinct. Life in the ‘brand you’ world is not
Optional.” Tom Peters

Welcome to the turbulent times! At one end of the spectrum white collar jobs are shrinking or getting outsourced, mergers and acquisitions are the order of the day and companies are disappearing into the blue faster than light; while on other end, technology is enabling us to do our jobs in ways we never once dreamt of. Ray Kurzweil
inventor and futurist predicts that there will be one thousand times more technological changes in the 21st century than there were in the 20th century!

So what does all this bode for people in organizations? For us?

Success today demands that we are passionate, innovative, determined to make a difference, agile, life long learners and inspired!

Each of us has an invisible bucket. It is constantly emptied or filled, depending on what others say or do to us. When our bucket is full, we feel great. When it’s empty, we feel awful.

Each of us also has an invisible dipper. When we use that dipper to fill other people’s buckets — by saying or doing things to increase their positive emotions — we also fill our own bucket. But when we use that dipper to dip from others’ buckets –by saying or doing things that decrease their positive emotions — we diminish ourselves.

While most of us do not question the fact that a positive outlook makes a great difference in our lives, what happens is that we are so caught up with the pressures of our day to day lives that taking time out to appreciate others takes the back seat.

Of course most of us think we are the very samaritans that spread cheer and warmth all around..